Change Your Image
ladylavende
Cary Grant
Audrey Hepburn
Musicals
Books
Masterpiece Theatre
LSU Football
Whisk(e)y
Tea
Traveling
Sad love stories (Casablanca, Brief Encounter, Queen Christina, Waterloo Bridge, etc.)
Broadway musicals
My top five movies: (and that's all you get because I think lists are stupid)
1. Casablanca
2. The Apartment
3. Notorious
4. My Fair Lady
5. Tootsie
What I'm watching: Thoroughly Modern Millie. White slavery? Evil Chinese men? But Julie Andrews is just so adorable.
Lists
An error has ocurred. Please try againReviews
Christopher Strong (1933)
A film made great by Kate's splendid performance
Christopher Strong is a film of clichés- daring, independent woman meets devoted, trustworthy husband of kind, albeit prudish wife. He's never cheated on his wife, she's never been in love. Will a clandestine affair ensue? Oh, gee, the suspense might leave you hanging.
But before you write this one off, remember that it stars the incomparable Katharine Hepburn in one of her first screen roles. And she is divine. I love Kate when she's strong and brash and carelessly independent. She breathes life into what would be a tired role in any other actress's hands. Her performance makes you believe at once in the worldliness and naiveté of an aviatrix who's never known love before.
The ending is rushed and lacks credibility. It feels forced, as though they had to give some closure to a rather untidy relationship. It would have been better without the closure. But through it all, you believe in Hepburn; even in the final moments, you believe that maybe she regrets her irreversible decision after all.
It's not an original look at adultery, but Kate's performance gives you an interesting view of the other woman- one who is brave but scared, happy but miserable.
A Bill of Divorcement (1932)
A lovely film, although a bit dated and overacted
George Cukor's first of many pairings with the incomparable Katharine Hepburn (and her first screen role) is a real treat for any cinephile like myself. The film stars John Barrymore as a man whose insanity has kept him locked up in an asylum and separated from his wife (Billie Burke- in a surprisingly winning dramatic role) and daughter (Hepburn). He returns years later to a daughter he never knew and a wife who has divorced him and moved on to another man.
The story is a bit too melodramatic, and John Barrymore does have a tendency to overact his scenes of desperation and fear. But Hepburn and Barrymore have an irresistible chemistry together on screen, and the moments they spend connecting for the first time as father and daughter are unbelievably touching and sweet.
If you're a fan of Kate, it's a must see. She's a little stiff here, but we see the makings of the wonderful actress she was to become. And George Cukor still had a few things to learn about directing- he overplays moments of tension between Barrymore and Burke, ignoring the real story at times- a father and daughter bound together by the threads of insanity. Still, the final shot of Barrymore and Hepburn is a lovely, hopeful end to a sad film.
I highly recommend this film for movie lovers, for Hepburn fans, and for Cukor aficionados. You won't be disappointed.